This tiny flask-shaped perfume bottle of cut glass has a vinaigrette embedded in the center. It is English c1810-1820, and measures slightly under 1 ½”.
The vinaigrette and screw-on top are gold. The vinaigrette goes all the way through the center of the bottle, so that the bottle’s actual shape is like a doughnut.
The lid of the vinaigrette is glass and holds a circle of woven blonde hair. When the lid is raised we see a gold pierced grill in the shape of a flower.
When the grill is raised we find a tiny sponge which would have been soaked in aromatic vinegar, or in this case, perhaps some of the perfume from the bottle. I cannot guarantee that the sponge is 200+ years old, but it was in the bottle when I purchased it.
The other side of the bottle has another glass-enclosed circle of woven hair, this time dark brown.
Neither the vinaigrette lid with the blonde hair nor the back of the vinaigrette with brown hair can be opened, but are permanently enclosed under glass. The two different shades of hair suggest they may have come from the children of the owner, or perhaps from her own hair and her husband’s. In any case, the inclusion of hair is always a sentimental message, so the woven locks must have belonged to loved ones.
This tiny scent bottle could have rested on a dressing table (it’s a lay-down bottle, not one that stands up), or it could have easily been carried in a reticule. The lid screws on tightly, so there would have been little chance of spillage.
